The landscape of tolerated genetic variation in humans and primates. (2023)
Journal Article
Gao, H., Hamp, T., Ede, J., Schraiber, J. G., McRae, J., Singer-Berk, M., …Jolly, C. J. (2023). The landscape of tolerated genetic variation in humans and primates. Science, 380(6648), https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn8197

Personalized genome sequencing has revealed millions of genetic differences between individuals, but our understanding of their clinical relevance remains largely incomplete. To systematically decipher the effects of human genetic variants, we obtain... Read More about The landscape of tolerated genetic variation in humans and primates..

Total evidence phylogeny of platyrrhine primates and a comparison of undated and tip-dating approaches (2022)
Journal Article
Beck, R., de Vries, D., Janiak, M., Goodhead, I., & Boubli, J. (2022). Total evidence phylogeny of platyrrhine primates and a comparison of undated and tip-dating approaches. Journal of Human Evolution, 174, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103293

There have been multiple published phylogenetic analyses of platyrrhine primates (New World monkeys) using both morphological and molecular data, but relatively few that have integrated both types of data into a total evidence approach. Here, we pr... Read More about Total evidence phylogeny of platyrrhine primates and a comparison of undated and tip-dating approaches.

Changes in morphological disparity in eutherian mammals across the K-Pg boundary and Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum using discrete morphofunctional characters (2022)
Thesis
morphofunctional characters. (Dissertation). University of Salford

The mammalian clade Eutheria comprises placental mammals (the dominant group of mammals today, with >6000 living species, ~93% of living diversity) plus their stem relatives. A major event in Earth history that had a profound influence on Eutheria wa... Read More about Changes in morphological disparity in eutherian mammals across the K-Pg boundary and Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum using discrete morphofunctional characters.

Evolution: the evolutionary rat race in New Guinea and Australia (2022)
Journal Article
Beck, R., & Eldridge, M. (2022). Evolution: the evolutionary rat race in New Guinea and Australia. Current Biology, 32(19), R1010-R1012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.056

A new molecular phylogeny of a remarkable radiation of New Guinean and Australian rodents indicates multiple transitions between biomes and biogeographical regions within the group, and suggests that a key role was played by the geological history of... Read More about Evolution: the evolutionary rat race in New Guinea and Australia.

Craniodental morphology and phylogeny of marsupials (2022)
Journal Article
Beck, R., Voss, R., & Jansa, S. (in press). Craniodental morphology and phylogeny of marsupials. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 1-350. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090.457.1.1

The current literature on marsupial phylogenetics includes numerous studies based on analyses of morphological data with limited sampling of Recent and fossil taxa, and many studies based on analyses of molecular data with dense sampling of Recent ta... Read More about Craniodental morphology and phylogeny of marsupials.

Ancient DNA of the pygmy marmoset type specimen Cebuella pygmaea (Spix, 1823) resolves a taxonomic conundrum (2021)
Journal Article
Boubli, J., Janiak, M., Porter, L., de la Torre, S., Cortés-Ortiz, L., da Silva, M., …Roos, C. (2021). Ancient DNA of the pygmy marmoset type specimen Cebuella pygmaea (Spix, 1823) resolves a taxonomic conundrum. Zoological Research, 42(6), 761-771. https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.143

The pygmy marmoset, the smallest of the anthropoid primates, has a broad distribution in Western Amazonia. Recent studies using molecular and morphological data have identified two distinct species separated by the Napo and Solimões-Amazonas rivers.... Read More about Ancient DNA of the pygmy marmoset type specimen Cebuella pygmaea (Spix, 1823) resolves a taxonomic conundrum.

Global elongation and high shape flexibility as an evolutionary hypothesis of accommodating mammalian brains into skulls (2021)
Journal Article
Weisbecker, V., Rowe, T., Wroe, S., Macrini, T. E., Garland, K. L. S., Travouillon, K. J., …Sherratt, E. (2021). Global elongation and high shape flexibility as an evolutionary hypothesis of accommodating mammalian brains into skulls. Evolution, 75(3), 625-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14163

Little is known about how the large brains of mammals are accommodated into the dazzling diversity of their skulls. It has been suggested that brain shape is influenced by relative brain size, that it evolves or develops according to extrinsic or int... Read More about Global elongation and high shape flexibility as an evolutionary hypothesis of accommodating mammalian brains into skulls.

Leaving Gondwana : the changing position of the Indian subcontinent in the Global Faunal Network (2020)
Book Chapter
subcontinent in the Global Faunal Network. In G. Prasad, & R. Patnaik (Eds.), Biological Consequences of Plate Tectonics : New Perspectives on Post-Gondwana Break-up – a tribute to Ashok Sahni (227-249). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49753-8_9

The paleogeographic history of the Indian subcontinent is unique among Earth’s landmasses. From being part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana for most of the Mesozoic, through a period of isolation as a drifting entity in the Late Cretaceous... Read More about Leaving Gondwana : the changing position of the Indian subcontinent in the Global Faunal Network.

Elucidating cryptic diversity in East African frogs : the case of Arthroleptis francei Loveridge, 1953 (2020)
Thesis
Woest, N. Elucidating cryptic diversity in East African frogs : the case of Arthroleptis francei Loveridge, 1953. (Dissertation). University of Salford

Detailed information on the diversity of species and their distributions is crucial for the implementation of useful conservation measures. Here, I focus on the Afromontane region of Malawi and Mozambique, and use molecular techniques, environmental... Read More about Elucidating cryptic diversity in East African frogs : the case of Arthroleptis francei Loveridge, 1953.

A new family of diprotodontian marsupials from the latest Oligocene of Australia and the evolution of wombats, koalas, and their relatives (Vombatiformes) (2020)
Journal Article
Beck, R., Louys, J., Brewer, P., Archer, M., Black, K., & Tedford, R. (2020). A new family of diprotodontian marsupials from the latest Oligocene of Australia and the evolution of wombats, koalas, and their relatives (Vombatiformes). Scientific reports, 10(9741), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66425-8

We describe the partial cranium and skeleton of a new diprotodontian marsupial from the late Oligocene (~26–25 Ma) Namba Formation of South Australia. This is one of the oldest Australian marsupial fossils known from an associated skeleton and it rev... Read More about A new family of diprotodontian marsupials from the latest Oligocene of Australia and the evolution of wombats, koalas, and their relatives (Vombatiformes).

Tip dating supports novel resolutions of controversial relationships among early mammals (2020)
Journal Article
King, B., & Beck, R. (2020). Tip dating supports novel resolutions of controversial relationships among early mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1928), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0943

The estimation of the timing of major divergences in early mammal evolution is challenging due to conflicting interpretations of key fossil taxa. One contentious group is Haramiyida, the earliest members of which are from the Late Triassic. Many phyl... Read More about Tip dating supports novel resolutions of controversial relationships among early mammals.

Island rule and bone metabolism in fossil murines from Timor (2020)
Journal Article
Miszkiewicz, J., Louys, J., Beck, R., Mahoney, P., Aplin, K., & O’Connor, S. (2020). Island rule and bone metabolism in fossil murines from Timor. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 129(3), 570-586. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz197

Skeletal growth rates reconstructed from bone histology in extinct insular hippopotamids, elephants, bovids and sauropods have been used to infer dwarfism as a response to island conditions. Limited published records of osteocyte lacunae densities... Read More about Island rule and bone metabolism in fossil murines from Timor.

A nearly complete juvenile skull of the marsupial Sparassocynus derivatus from the Pliocene of Argentina, the affinities of “sparassocynids”, and the diversification of opossums (Marsupialia; Didelphimorphia; Didelphidae) (2019)
Journal Article
Beck, R., & Taglioretti, M. (2020). A nearly complete juvenile skull of the marsupial Sparassocynus derivatus from the Pliocene of Argentina, the affinities of “sparassocynids”, and the diversification of opossums (Marsupialia; Didelphimorphia; Didelphidae). Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 27, 385-417. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-019-09471-y

“Sparassocynids” are small, carnivorously-adapted marsupials known from the late Miocene and Pliocene of South America, thought to be relatives of living didelphid opossums but of otherwise uncertain phylogenetic relationships. Here, we describe a... Read More about A nearly complete juvenile skull of the marsupial Sparassocynus derivatus from the Pliocene of Argentina, the affinities of “sparassocynids”, and the diversification of opossums (Marsupialia; Didelphimorphia; Didelphidae).

An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria) (2019)
Journal Article
Eldridge, M., Beck, R., Croft, D., Travouillon, K., & Fox, B. (2019). An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria). Journal of Mammalogy, 100(3), 802-837. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyz018

Marsupials and their fossil relatives, which collectively comprise Metatheria, have been of scientific interest for centuries, with many aspects of their evolution and systematics subject to intense research and debate. Here, we review progress over... Read More about An emerging consensus in the evolution, phylogeny, and systematics of marsupials and their fossil relatives (Metatheria).

Total evidence phylogeny and evolutionary timescale for Australian faunivorous marsupials (Dasyuromorphia) (2017)
Journal Article
Kealy, S., & Beck, R. (2017). Total evidence phylogeny and evolutionary timescale for Australian faunivorous marsupials (Dasyuromorphia). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17(240), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1090-0

Background The order Dasyuromorphia is a diverse radiation of faunivorous marsupials, comprising >80 modern species in Australia and New Guinea. It includes dasyurids, the numbat (the myrmecobiid Myrmecobius fasciatus) and the recently extinct thyl... Read More about Total evidence phylogeny and evolutionary timescale for Australian faunivorous marsupials (Dasyuromorphia).

Skeleton of an unusual cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey (2017)
Journal Article
Murat Maga, A., & Beck, R. (2017). Skeleton of an unusual cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey. PLoS ONE, 12(8), e0181712. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181712

We describe a near-complete, three-dimensionally preserved skeleton of a metatherian (relative of modern marsupials) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44–43 million years ago) Lülük member of the Uzunçarşıdere Formation, central Turkey. With an estim... Read More about Skeleton of an unusual cat-sized marsupial relative (Metatheria: Marsupialiformes) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44-43 million years ago) of Turkey.

The skull of Epidolops ameghinoi from the early Eocene Itaboraí fauna, southeastern Brazil, and the affinities of the extinct marsupialiform order Polydolopimorphia (2016)
Journal Article
Brazil, and the affinities of the extinct marsupialiform order Polydolopimorphia. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 24(4), 373-414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-016-9357-6

The skull of the polydolopimorphian marsupialiform Epidolops ameghinoi is described in detail for the first time, based on a single well-preserved cranium and associated left and right dentaries plus additional craniodental fragments, all from the... Read More about The skull of Epidolops ameghinoi from the early Eocene Itaboraí fauna, southeastern Brazil, and the affinities of the extinct marsupialiform order Polydolopimorphia.

Cranial shape variation and phylogenetic relationships of extinct and extant Old World leaf-nosed bats (2016)
Journal Article
Wilson, L., Hand, S., López-Aguirre, C., Archer, M., Black, K., Beck, R., …Wroe, S. (2016). Cranial shape variation and phylogenetic relationships of extinct and extant Old World leaf-nosed bats. Alcheringa, 40(4), 509-524. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2016.1196434

The leaf-nosed bats in Hipposideridae and Rhinonycteridae currently have an Old World tropical to subtropical distribution, with a fossil record extending back to the middle Eocene of Europe. The Riversleigh World Heritage fossil site in northwestern... Read More about Cranial shape variation and phylogenetic relationships of extinct and extant Old World leaf-nosed bats.

A new family of bizarre durophagous carnivorous marsupials from Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland (2016)
Journal Article
Archer, M., Hand, S., Black, K., Beck, R., Arena, D., Wilson, L., …Hung, T. (2016). A new family of bizarre durophagous carnivorous marsupials from Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Scientific reports, 6, 26911. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26911

A new specimen of the bizarrely specialised Malleodectes mirabilis from middle Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area provides the first and only information about the molar dentition of this strange group of extinct marsupials. Apar... Read More about A new family of bizarre durophagous carnivorous marsupials from Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland.

Mammalian lineages and the biostratigraphy and biochronology of Cenozoic faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia (2015)
Journal Article
Arena, D., Travouillon, K., Beck, R., Black, K., Gillespie, A., Myers, T., …Hand, S. (2015). Mammalian lineages and the biostratigraphy and biochronology of Cenozoic faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia. Lethaia, 49(1), 43-60. https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12131

Lineage zones within nine contemporaneous mammalian lineages represented in the Cenozoic fossil vertebrate record from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northern Australia are used to resolve a series of faunal intervals from the Late Oligocene... Read More about Mammalian lineages and the biostratigraphy and biochronology of Cenozoic faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia.